Data centers are facilities that contain hundreds or thousands of computer servers that host web sites or applications for off-site customers and/or that provide large amounts of computer storage for remote users. The number and size of data centers continues to increase as consumers demand ever larger amounts of off-site storage and/or processing power. In an effort to increase the scalability of these data centers, modular data centers have been introduced. These modular data centers may comprise one or more racks of servers mounted in standard shipping containers which have their own power and/or cooling connections. Substantially any number of these modules can be assembled and interconnected to house a desired number of servers.
Data center servers produce a significant amount of heat and require large amounts of energy to cool. Air conditioning a data center can be quite expensive, and data center operators are desirous of finding cooling arrangements that can reduce their energy use / carbon footprint and also reduce costs. A variety of cooling arrangements are known. However, many of these arrangements are not easily integrateable with the server modules of a modular data center. For example, while a large number of server modules may be operated in a warehouse, cooling the entire warehouse is not the most efficient way to keep all the servers in the modules at a proper operating temperature. Each individual server module may alternately be provided with a conventional air conditioner having an evaporator and condenser, but operating a plurality of individual air conditioners in this manner can also be inefficient. It would therefore be desirable to provide a cooling module that integrates with one or more server modules in a manner that provides improved cooling of servers in the server modules in an energy efficient manner.